How many great choose-your-own adventure books have been written? The promise of different stories and endings in every read is a great way to spend your time, but does the story ask any real questions or make a lasting impression on the reader?

I feel the same way about games that rely on decision making and moral choices made by the character, which often having a weaker than average narrative. With the market flooded by games like this, players are often put off when a title doesn’t follow suit. Criticism has been aimed at Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us surrounding their endings and the lack of options that are given to the player. In my play-throughs, the endings to both of these games struck me hard, but were important to the story of the games. They made sense in the world that the writers had created. It wouldn’t feel right for the developer to give the player the option to change the ending, and would have felt disrespectful to the writing teams on both titles. Since then I’ve been able to share and discuss my opinions of both of these games, one of the greatest parts of a “shared experience”.

At this years Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, Bioshock creator Ken Levine told an audience that he believes that future of video game narratives will revolve around stories with multiple, randomised plots based on different needs and preferences of non-playable characters. With this randomised world, players choices will reflect and change the way the world reacts to the player. The characters in the game will express needs and wants, likes and dislikes, providing a unique experience each time a new game is played.

Levine went on to explain that this was one of the reasons that he shut down his former studio Irrational Games, saying he had wanted “time to fail for a long period when you don’t have 150 people who are looking at you and saying ‘Dude, what am i supposed to be doing today?’” Irrational was shut down last month, with Levine continuing with fifteen of the studios staff on a new project.

Moral choices and multiple paths and story lines are not a new element in video games. Recently, games like Bethesda’s Skyrim and Fallout 3 or Bioware’s Mass Effect have used player choices and morality with mixed results. Fallout 3 and Skyrim were both successful games, with both of the games beginning with the player controlling a unexpected hero, tasked with an insurmountable mission to save a sprawling open-world. It was this open-world that enthralled players; the environment was a character of its own. But it wasn’t the story that captivated players and was often the biggest criticism for both titles. With all the player’s choices and multiple story lines the main plot ended in the same place, criticism the Mass Effect series knows all too well.

When Mass Effect 3 finally concluded the popular trilogy’s story, gamers around the world threw their hands up in disgust. After all the choices and plot line diverging over the last two games, Mass Effect 3’s ending was predetermined. Players felt cheated, asking why they had made the choices in the first place if the writers were going to choose the ending for them. What right did they have to the players personal journey on the Normandy?

Ken Levine’s GDC talk has me fearing for the future of video games and their great narratives and the storytellers creating them, being pushed aside for one-size-fits all, choose-your-own adventures. Like reading a great book or watching an amazing movie, I want to go on an journey.

Much like the Steam free weekend last month (which drove me to pick up Ghosts) Xbox360 users will soon get the chance to try the latest COD title for free.

This kind of promotion makes a lot of sense as sometimes the cost risk balance is too high but by playing a slimmed down multiplayer you can see what you are really investing in.

I hope this will start a trend of free weekends across al platforms but we will have to wait and see what the future holds.

For the first time in Call of Duty® history, Activision and Infinity Ward, in partnership with Xbox, will be hosting a free Call of Duty®: Ghosts multiplayer demo on Xbox Live this coming weekend. Starting Friday, 7th March at 6:00 p.m. (GMT) and going through to Monday, 10th March, gamers on Xbox One and Xbox 360 will be able to jump on Xbox Live and try out Call of Duty: Ghostsmultiplayer at no cost. The demo will include three multiplayer maps – Strikezone, Warhawk, and Prison break; three multiplayer modes – Search & Rescue, Domination and Team Deathmatch; and the original Extinction game mode – Point of Contact. Come Friday, gamers will just need to sign-in to Xbox Live, download the Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer demo, and get right into a match against friends, family, and anyone else enjoying the free demo weekend.

Below the divider is the full press release for the new joint venture between War Child and World of Tanks.Its a bold link for the two organisations but I think the message that the reality of War is far removed from its on screen depiction is an important one. Games are not the only medium that depicts war but the active way companies like Wargaming are supporting this initiative shows their commitment to educating as well as entertaining their player base.

To find out more you can read below or please consider going to the War child website to donate.

Wargaming.net and War Child UK share the belief that Real War Is Not A Game. To raise awareness of the real, unacceptable issues that children face in conflicts around the world today, in partnership with Wargaming.net, War Child UK is launching the campaign ‘Real War Is Not A Game’ to engage the wider gaming industry in these issues.

Wargaming.net is a major Free to Play publisher that has raised with its success the awareness for history and education of history with a wide audience of players. We strongly believe that with success comes also the responsibility to give back and support the community. As such, Wargaming.net has made many efforts to support museums such as the Bovington Tank Museum where it has funded their educational classroom for example.

Between 20th and 27th of September Wargaming.net sold three “Charity Packages” on their World of Tanks Gift Shop, a quarter of the total sales revenue would be donated to the Charity War Child UKwho help children affected by the consequences of conflict in the real world.

Wargaming presented a cheque to War Child, the total amount raised was €100,000. Attending these preceding where:

o Rob Williams, CEO War Child UK

o Rinaldo Andreolli, General Manager, Wargaming Europe SAS

o Ben Knowles, Fundraising Director, War Child UK

o Richard Cutland, Military Specialist, Wargaming Europe SAS

Armoured warfare is something that Wargaming.net believes should take place on people’s PCs at home and not in the real world. By supporting museums and other educational institutions that showcase the atrocities and consequences of armoured warfare, we try to support the efforts of ensuring that history is not forgotten and that people will not repeat the mistakes of the past that have brought so much suffering to so many people.

We are however consciously aware that in reality many children around the globe are affected by the horrific consequences of warfare and are in dire need of assistance. Children are always hit hardest by conflict. They are beaten, raped and tortured; their homes, families and schools are destroyed - everything a child needs to build a better future for themselves is lost.

Given these realities, Wargaming.net has been on the lookout for an organization that shares our belief that children are not only innocent but also our only hope for a better future. Protecting children and helping them overcome the horrific conditions they are exposed to in armoured conflicts around the globe is an imperative that Wargaming.net would like to support.

With War Child UK we have found a partner that is exceptional in many ways. War Child is not only actively promoting and helping to create conditions in conflict zones that allow children to be protected from the immediate effects of armoured conflicts, but is doing much more than that. By enabling children to receive an education and assisting families and young adults in acquiring skills that will allow them to make a living from a sustainable income on their own, War Child’s activities make a lasting difference in the life of many.

We are gladly supporting War Child’s efforts both financially as well as through raising War Child’s profile within our community. By alerting more people to the crucially important work War Child is doing, we hope to be helping to raise more funds so that War Child can reach and help more children.

The latest Screenshot from season 2, has Clement meeting up with an old acquaintance (not sure if spoilers are ok at this point Theberton again just seeing the picture of Omid is a spiller in itself so sorry for the spolier).

The most interesting thing about this picture is not what it depicts, rather its the imminent release of "All that remains". Telltale will have two games running at the same time. The main question is can they keep up their high standards for narrative?I feel they can but this leaves bug fixes with two games on a variety of platforms all releasing around t G e same time, the potential for glitches will be high. Let's hope the studio have learnt from TWD season 1.I for one can not wait to dive in.

From classics like Mass Effect to brand new titles like FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, Need for Speed Rivals and many more titles. Origin is showing a great line up of discounts in the pc and previous console stakes.The PC downloads are an especially appetising menu where you can really grab a bargin.The only question is will it be the road, pitch or battlefield where we meet.

It appears that Bethesda have trademarked the anticipated sequel in the Fallout series, Fallout 4, in Europe. Bethesda are yet to officially comment on the find, the trade mark was made on the 14th of November.

The trademark can be seen through the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market website at the follow address: http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/012311734

After spending countless hours playing Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, any news is good news.

I’ll be keeping an ear out for anything else Fallout 4 related. You can also send your Fallout tips to @matttaylor138 on Twitter.

When DICE and EA announced the next title for the Battlefield series, one of the big features showcased was the return of the Commander Mode, which had been missing from the franchise since 2005’s Battlefield 2. With an overview of the match, the Commander can be used to support their team, and in the right hands help their team to victory.

When presenting the return of Commander Mode, DICE also announced something completely new to the role, the Battlefield 4 Commander app. The application gives players the ability to join the fight from anywhere, using either a 3G or Wifi connection.

From today, soldiers can now join in game as a commander from their iOS (soon to be followed by Android) tablets. The Battlefield 4 Commander app is available from the iOS App Store. Android tablet users will have to wait until “later this month” according to the official Battlefield 4 Facebook page before joining in on the mobile mayhem.

Ever since the XboxOne reveal there have been questions on the cross media options for the rest of the non-American world. Well Microsoft had turned to the sometimes controversial producer/chatshow host Jonathon Ross and his production company in a way to offer an improved cross media experience.Although Ross is well known for his passion of gaming it seems his exhaustive will be more utilised in the launching of new media ip's instead of games.The full press release is below fir those who want the full lowdown.

Microsoft today announced a partnership with Jonathan Ross and his company Hotsauce Interactive, which will see the entertainer and his colleague Georg Backer join the Microsoft Studios team as Executive Producers.Ross brings over 25 years of broadcast and production experience to his new role having hosted some of the UK’s most popular TV and radio shows including “The Jonathan Ross Show,” the “Film” series, and the “British Comedy Awards” among countless others.Jonathan Ross will consult with a number of Microsoft Studios including Lift London, Rare, Lionhead and Soho Productions bringing his unparalleled understanding for audience trends to the studios’ development of IP across multiple distribution channels including TV, music and movies.Lee Schuneman, Studio Head at Lift London who will work closely with Jonathan Ross stated, “We’re really excited to be working with someone of Jonathan’s calibre, we share so many of the same passions and influences it just makes perfect sense.” “Microsoft Studios is focused on creating the best in class cross-media entertainment, with Lift London specifically looking at creating IP across multiple channels. Jonathan will be a huge asset for us as he really knows how to connect to mass audiences with an impressive understanding for audience tastes and trends,” continued Schuneman.“I’m thrilled to be joining forces with Microsoft Studios. The explosion in cross-media opportunities and the chance to create and develop entertainment ideas that make the most of both the traditional and the very latest platforms is tremendously exciting. My love of games, movies and TV made this partnership a no-brainer. And they said they’d give me an Xbox One for free, so how could I possibly refuse?” said Ross

This is a very early view and we will be creating individual reviews for all of the Zen Pinball tables over the coming weeks and beyond. However today the Balance of the Force pack dropped and I have spent some time on each table. Just for transparency all the scores are form my first full game on the table and I played on the Vita (My platform of choice for Pinball) with the view 4 option selected.

Episode VI

Score; 16,386,974

Of the original trilogy Return of the Jedi is usually the lowest ranked film and of the three tables its my least favourite.Its very well presented with a tough opening trick shot but the table feels too wide for the Vita screen. Its a small thing but it really shows as the other tables all feel ideally suited. Otherwise the basic gameplay feels very safe with the specials creating all the buzz.I can see it may grow on me but I will have to move from usual view

Darth Vader

The most striking thing about this table is the ambient lighting. The glowing red floor creates a menacing table and feels perfectly suited to the character it depicts. The table is pretty fast with a compact set of set in the center.The specials are based around Vader specific scenes from the Trilogy and they play out with Zen's usual panache. I can see my score growing a lot bigger as it was just silly mistakes that cost.The Highlight of the table has to be the multiball sections but I will not spoil why except to say Glow.

Score; 107,097,928

StarFighter Assault

Score; Rebellion, 41,993816Score; Empire, 48,772,780

The two scores above are pretty much the reason I love this table. It defines balance with half the table being for the Empire and the Rebellion on the other. However if you think this is the only duality to the table you will be mistaken. At the start you get to decide which Starfighter you will control and this changes the look of the bumpers (they are in the shape of Canons) to the voices and even the Space Invader style mini game. This is my favourite of the three and I know my score will be climbing on bothsides

Overall for £7.99 I can highly recommend the Balance of the force pack, the three tables have the usual polish and will offer a great challenge. Look out for the full reviews coming soon

It's been a very busy week on the comic/game crossover with news from NYCC, you can check this out on the Comic news feed.In terms of site gaming-wise the big news has been Castles in the Sky. This lovely experience was played through by Jon and one of our youngest contributors, his daughter. The video is below and I can highly recommend giving it a watch.We have a few reviews coming in the next few days including one of Telltales latest endeavor, The Wolf Among Us, so keep your eyes open for that.

Money in the BankGiven some of the recent technical issues during these first days of GTA Online, and now that things are starting to look much smoother (touch wood!), we are planning to provide a special stimulus package for all who have played or will play Grand Theft Auto Online this month.

We will be dropping a cool half a million GTA$ in the GTA Online bank accounts of all players this month, starting as early as next week.

‘Don’t Spend It All in One Place!’In order to keep the current worldwide in-game economy balanced, we will be providing this GTA$ to players via two deposits of $250,000. We will announce specific dates as soon as possible, but are currently hoping to be able to make the first deposit by the end of next week (after we’ve confirmed that issues causing game progress loss have been fixed) with the second installment to happen by the end of the month. For players who experienced cloud server errors, connection issues, and lost game progress and characters in these first days of GTA Online, we hope this GTA$ helps to facilitate a fresh start or makes your continued life in Los Santos and Blaine County extra sweet. Below are a few more details on how it will work. Stay tuned for tips on how to make the most of GTA$ cash, info on ways and places to earn more cash fast, as well as updates on all the new GTA Online content additions we’re working on for this fall and beyond. · You must play or have played Grand Theft Auto Online at any time during the month of October 2013 in order to qualify for the GTA$500,000 deposit in your in-game bank account.· Players will first have to install a forthcoming GTAV title update which we expect to happen next week. That title update (1.04) is expected to fix the remaining instances of issues that have caused vehicle purchase loss and will also enable the functionality through which we’ll be providing this GTA$ stimulus cash to players.· We will announce at the Rockstar Newswire when each deposit is made.· Each of the two GTA$250,000 deposits will be made by Rockstar and should automatically appear in the in-game GTA Online bank accounts of eligible players. Beyond downloading the forthcoming title update mentioned above, there should not be any additional special action required by eligible players to redeem.

The highlight of the video for me at least is the cross platform nature of the clans. This will help to build communities and is a step in the right direction. But watch the video to see what your highlights are,

The fusion between different forms of entertainment medium is becoming stronger all the time. From Superhero video games to comics based on IP's like Mass Effect and Bioshock.

Call of Duty though has the pull to grab some serious attention in the form of its association with music and in this case Eminem. Love him or hate him there is no denying the Rapper is a global star and his association with the Marmite of FPS titles has moved into new territory with his latest music video. Not only does he sport the now infamous Ghosts mask but you can also see game footage in the background of many of the shots.

In a very crowded market will this kind of association help both sides gain market share? I suppose we will have to wait to after November the 5th (when both the game and album are released) to see.

Its been an interesting week with the release of GTA online and the Battlefield 4 Beta. Two games that will probably be dominating the online space for a while if they can sort their kinks out.The site is growing and we are on the look out for new writers so if you fancy trying your hand then please let us know by emailing Paul on this handy placed linkIn related news we would like to introduce a new writer Matthew to the site and his first article is one of the weeks Highlights as you will see below.

Today Rockstar are starting to address some of the problems GTA online has had in the form of a patch. The full details are below but all we can hope is this will make the game more stable so we can finally get some Los Santos multiplayer under our belts

Thank you everyone for continuing to bear with us since Tuesday’s initial roll out of Grand Theft Auto Online – we’re aware that a variety of technical difficulties have made it difficult to get access and that the experience has been a bit less than smooth for many of you who jumped in straight away, so here are a few updates as of this afternoon to keep you all apprised. At the Rockstar Games Support site, there is adedicated article listing out the most common technical issues being reported. Things are changing and developing frequently but here are some latest updates as of this afternoon:For PlayStation 3 users, a PlayStation Network server issue was detected that was limiting the amount of possible concurrent users. This was preventing most players from accessing GTA Online altogether and as of this morning, that problem was resolved.There is an issue that is preventing some players from getting through the first tutorial mission across both platforms. Many players have been able to get through this with repeated retries, and we are working on unblocking this for everyone as soon as possible.This morning, we experienced some instability across the GTA Online services which is affecting even people who have progressed beyond the tutorial mission. We are identifying these issues now and are working to restore stability for users as soon as possible.For the time being and until we have been able to get everybody access to GTA Online and things are running smoothly, we have disabled the option of purchasable GTA$ cash packs. Players can however keep on earning GTA$ by pulling off Jobs and other profitable gameplay activities rather than purchasing cash packs.

You can keep updated on these and other common issues by subscribing to the GTA Online Launch Status Rockstar Support article at http://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/articles/200426246-GTA-Online-Launch-Status-Latest-Updates-. Subscribers will be sent an automatic notification as updates happen.

All of these initial technical issues will be ironed out as soon as we can. Please know that the entire team here at Rockstar and all of our relevant partners are and will continue to be working around the clock to get the experience to be as smooth as possible, as soon as possible.

In the meantime, for anyone experiencing technical problems, we encourage you to report them to our dedicated Support Team atSupport.RockstarGames.com and at twitter.com/RockstarSupport. This is the best place to get direct technical help and we are constantly looking at the most commonly reported issues there to resolve.

For those of you who have been getting into and playing GTA Online, we also encourage you to please share your gameplay experience feedback with us at GTAOnline@rockstargames.com so that we may know what aspects you’re liking and disliking to help guide how the game will grow and evolve past this initial period.

Thanks again everyone for your patience and your support – we will continue to keep you updated.

The teaser below pretty much gives the game away but its still hugely exciting.

My take on the teaser is; The Witcher series has been lauded as one of the best in recent times so linking this franchise with Dark Horse will hopefully to reward us with a must buy series in the near future.

Our big news this week has been the Eurogamer Expo held in Earls Court, London. You can take a look at the news on its dedicated page and we will be putting up more posts on the page during this week. Click here for the page.

The Curve Studios Takeover

To celebrate the release of Jasper Byrne's Lone Survivor we decided to highlight all the games that we have reviewed from Curve Studios and what a collection of titles they are. You can look at all the reviews below.

After waking past my local Blockbusters and noticing their returns policy, a thought popped into my head about the GTAV multiplayer. Is the later release of the online component a really good move as it may well stop early trade in's of the game.The two week (or so) spilt between the single player release and the eventual online mode will make alot of players have to decide between, getting a guaranteed return value on their game or missing out on what appears to be Rockstar's ultimate multiplayer mode. Obviously the delay may just be trying to get the online world of Los Santos right, but it seems like this could really work for Rockstar as it may encourage the secondary (purchasing period) buyer's to purchase new copies as there may well be less used copies around.Just a thoughtPaul.

Its not often we will paste a full press release and sit back, however this release from Special Effect is one of the times where my shortened description would not really be good enough to convey the full message. So please take a look and do two things past the post on and think about supporting this great charity.Many ThanksBackwards Compatible team

SpecialEffect, the charity that enables people with disabilities to play games through adapted technology, have today appealed to all gamers to support their first ever crowdfunding project, codenamed PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES.SpecialEffect aims to raise £5950/€6955/$9190 in order to purchase one new specialist Eye Control unit. This equipment will help many people with severe disabilities to enjoy and play games, levelling the playing field and creating a better quality of life. If they raise double the amount, SpecialEffect will buy two of these amazing pieces of equipment. Eye Control technology can be particularly helpful for those suffering from locked-in syndrome, motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy amongst many others conditions. Together with the technical and medical expertise of the SpecialEffect team, Eye Control technology can not only enable people to access and play games, but assist with rehabilitation, build self-esteem and help create a better quality of life through playing games. But it’s not all one way. In return for the pledges made by supporters, apart from the amazing reward of knowing that your pledge will help many people with disabilities to enjoy games, SpecialEffect have designed a range of rewards. Whether it’s being included on the ‘Roll of Honour’, being featured in the ‘Video Credits’, or a place on the ‘Virtual Plaque’, there are unique rewards available for all supporters. At the top of the list is being invited to visit for a full day at the SpecialEffect National Accessible Games Centre’ where supporters get to meet the team and see the fantastic work they do.And here’s what a difference this campaign can make – “The look on Henry’s face when he first used the eye-gaze to control something on screen was indescribable… for the first time he could play with something completely on his own. It was a landmark moment for us as a family.” Rob, Henry’s Dad.CEO of SpecialEffect, Dr Mick Donegan commented – “We set up, create, lend and support the use of specialist games controllers from our library of equipment. Everyone we work with is different. Some of the people we work with find it difficult or impossible to control parts of their body other than their eyes. In these instances we use computers which are controlled just by moving your eyes.”“The demand for this work is growing all the time, so we are asking the gaming community, who have always been enormously supportive of our work, to help SpecialEffect through crowdfunding. The PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES project will help us meet this growing demand and enable us to purchase this very special piece of eye-controlled equipment in order to reach and help more and more people with disabilities to play games”The crowdfunding project PLAYING WITH YOUR EYES launches on Gambitious at 10am on 13th September 2013 and will run for 30 days until Saturday 12th October 2013 and you can watch the video and pledge your support here – www.gambitious.com/projects/3576To meet the team and see with your own eyes the amazing work that SpecialEffect do and to try out Eye Control game playing for yourself, please visit the SpecialEffect team at The EuroGamer Expo between 26th September to 29th September at Earl’s Court, London, United Kingdom.

First of all, an introduction to this new update. We will take a quick whiz around the site from the week that has passed and post up a few of the highlights. So, without further ado, here we go:

Our first Community cast

Our resident Community manager AK hosted the first Community cast featuring a few friends of the site. Their topic for discussion this week was the Call of Duty Ghosts Reveal. Our three guests were @iTzViiveyy, @Gunns4Show and @NightshadowGame Give them all a twitter Follow, they are a great group of guys. The cast at the moment is in video form and can be viewed on the Community page of the site. We will be continuing with the community casts so keep an eye out as we will be getting as many of you on the air as we can.

We have had a new writer join the site and you can read his first piece here. Its entitled 'Remember When' and is a look at the state of gaming as it stands and also a request for the direction Rob would like it go in.Rob has also added his details to our Meet the Team section which you can check out here.

In the first podcast from Backwards Compatible we are joined by Bearskopff to discuss The Last of Us. As the podcast name suggests, many plot points are revealed here and it is advised that you finish the game before listening to this.

We discuss the world Naughty Dog created, how we felt about the game in terms of story, game mechanics and what could have been done to improve the game. We also talk about the multiplayer and the recent announcement of the censorship of the more graphic content in some PAL versions of the game.

You can contact the site on info@backwardscompatible.co.ukor follow us @backwardscomBearskopff can be followed @bearskopff

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This seems an obvious partnership. The biggest sports title in the world joining up with one of the biggest clubs. So why is it news?If your a Barca fan its great news as before selected games you will be able to access the EA Sports Dugout and enjoy some EA Sports gameplay.The bigger reason for me at least is why has this not been done before. It seems so logical to marry these two businesses. Below is a list of other clubs sharing the same sort of partnership, I just wonder how many other teams and franchises will be snapped in the coming years?

F.C. Barcelona joins many other prestigious EA SPORTS partner clubs around the world, including Valencia from Spain’s La Liga, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City from Barclays Premier League in England, Borussia Dortmund from the German Bundesliga, Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. from Ligue 1 in France, and AC Milan in Italy’s Serie A.